Review | Songlines

The Missing Star

Rating: ★★★★

View album and artist details

Album and Artist Details

Artist/band:

Lunatraktors

Label:

Broken Folk Records

June/2021

Carli Jefferson and Clair Le Couteur, aka Lunatrakrors, are an intriguing duo. Based in Margate, they are exponents of what they call ‘broken folk’ in which often intense, edgy harmony singing is matched against percussion – anything from drums to tap dance and body percussion (Jefferson once toured with STOMP). For their second album they have added harmonium, whistles, melodica, synth and piano to what is still a sparse, bravely original style. They are at their best reworking often well-known traditional songs, some of which are now updated with angry and political new lyrics. So the Bellowhead favourite ‘Rigs of the Times’ is now a pounding attack on the government's handling of Brexit, COVID-19 and nurses' pay (while still retaining the original line ‘honesty's all out of fashion’), while ‘Unquiet Grave’ deals with the care of the vulnerable and elderly.

Elsewhere, they demonstrate their a cappella harmony vocals on ‘My Witch’ (based on a verse from the 15th century) and rework Leonard Cohen's ‘Lover Lover Lover’ with string arrangements by Geoffrey Richardson (of Penguin Cafe Orchestra). I'm not wild about the more theatrical pieces, like ‘The Exciseman’, which maybe work better live, but Lunatraktors are well worth checking out.

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